DCHP-1 Online
thunderbird 
1a n. a mythical bird which, according to the legends of many Indian peoples, created the thunder with its beating wings and the lightning with its flashing eyes.
See also: hohoq
- 1878 (1926) The noise of thunder is explained by the fact that the thunder-bird takes hold of a whale and in a struggle with the monster of the deep causes all thundering reports.
- 1929 I think, my nephew, that it must have been one of the holes of the big snake that feeds the Thunder Bird.
- 1959 The legend of the Thunderbird was told to us.
- 1963 [They] do not see the Thunder Bird . . . under whose wings the people tremble.
1b n. a representation or symbol of this mythical bird, commonly met with on the totem poles of Pacific Coast tribes, in designs on clothing, and in various art forms. [See picture at thunderbird.]
- 1958 On top of this totem is perched the great Thunder-bird, having on his breast a man's face, denoting that these two mystic beings were interchangeable at will.
- 1964 The knitting [of the Cowichans] was beautifully patterned with thunderbirds and other designs. . . .
2 n. in Indian parlance, an airplane.
- 1936 (1955) Few of them, he remembered, were familiar with the "thunder-bird" of the white man.
- 1956 ". . . Maybe Indian he have no automobile or thunderbird, but he go places faster than white man and still stop where he is."
- 1878 (1926) The noise of thunder is explained by the fact that the thunder-bird takes hold of a whale and in a struggle with the monster of the deep causes all thundering reports.